MERCED, Calif. - The University of California, Merced women's soccer team scored first but ultimately lost 3-1 to Benedictine University Mesa on Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Field.

The Bobcats (3-3-2, 2-2) were tied 1-1 into the 70th minute, before BenU Mesa scored the eventual game-winning goal and then added an insurance goal in the 84th minute.

Vanessa Raygoza scored her team best fifth goal of the season for the Bobcats in the 29th minute. Stephanie Medina, who sent a long ball into the box from the center line, earned her first assist of 2022 on the goal. Raygoza drew the keeper well off her line and then lifted her shot up over the keepers head and into the back of the net. All five of Raygoza's goals have come on Bobcat Field, three of which during Cal Pac play.

Raygoza was one of three Bobcats to share match-high with four shots and the Chico, Calif., put three on target. Trinidad Quiroz and Jocelyne Garcia also got off four shots, two each on frame. 

Despite the loss, UC Merced outshot BenU Mesa 17-5 and won the corner kick battle 7-1. The Bobcats seven corner kicks marked the second highest count of the season.The Bobcats 17 shots were answered by Redhawks keeper Jaden Campbell's nine saves. Her most impressive save kept the game scoreless in the 24th minute, a diving stop on a Raygoza shot directly off a rebound after Garcia hit the post. Late in the second half in a 2-1 game, Medina peppered Campbell with a line drive shot from inside the box that Campbell managed to save cleanly.

The Bobcats five shots allowed was the second fewest shots allowed in a game this season. UC Merced held BenU Mesa without a shot for the first 20 minutes of each half. 

However, BenU Mesa made their limited shots count and put three of them in the net. Three different Redhawks scored, including Dahlia Alonso who found the back of the net in the 84th minute for her Cal Pac leading seventh goal of the season.

Looking ahead, the Bobcats travel to Park University Gilbert for the first ever meeting against the Buccaneers on Saturday, October 1. First touch from Bell Bank Park in Mesa, Ariz., is scheduled for 11:00am.